PUZZLE #74: Pentadecaphilia (by Chris Piuma!)

PDF
PUZ
SOLUTION to the last puzzle

Hello! Very excited to be running a puzzle from Chris Piuma, who you might know from his (very good) Twitch stream, and his (equally good) crossword site, both of which I highly recommend. Constructing-wise, I love what he's doing in terms of experimenting with the form of crosswords—no one's doing it like him. That sense is also very much on display in this puzzle, but I'll keep stop talking about it to avoid spoilers. All this is to say, I loved this puzzle, I hope you love it too, and here's some words from Chris!

This puzzle is a companion to my guest puzzle on Ada Nicolle's site. Both were inspired by a notorious channel in the Crosscord Server. I'm super excited that Paolo is willing to share it on his site, because — and I've written and rewritten the rest of this sentence a bunch of times, but it has something to do with the puzzle coming out of a particular community, and this site (and Paolo's other crosswording work) fostering a richer and more delightful community, and my excitement at stumbling into all this lovely communitarianism, and... oh, let's just say I'm excited and honoured that my puzzle is appearing here. I hope you enjoy it.

Many thanks to Chris for the kind words—now, onto the puzzle!

CRYPTIC #1: Character Study

PDF

SOLUTION

New puzzle format today! I've been getting into cryptic crosswords lately, largely due to solving (and loving!) the cryptics from Neville Fogarty, David Gold, Steve Mossberg, Andrew Ries et al, as well as the #crypticclueaday tweets from Stella Zawistowski. So, here's a variety cryptic for you, complete with weird gimmick and at least one Riverdale-themed clue. 

If you're new to cryptics, there are a few guides available online: Andrew Ries has a great guide to solving cryptics, and Stella Zawistowski has written an illuminating series of posts, one dedicated to a different facet of cryptic clues. In case you get stuck/don't understand how a clue works, I've attached a solution grid with full annotations.

Many thanks to David Gold for test solving—I'm a huge fan of his blog, especially his latest puzzle, which has a banger theme + some really impressive wordplay. Check it out!

Hope you enjoy the puzzle! I have a few other cryptics I might release as sporadic bonuses on the site, so let me know what you think about the whole "cryptic" "crossword" deal!

Best,

Paolo

P.S. Shoutout to Wyna Liu, the new associate puzzles editor for the New York Times! I've been lucky enough to work with her editorially at the AVCX, and she's as incredible an editor as she is a constructor/person. Looking forward to seeing what she does! (Edited to add: And Tracy Bennett!! Embarrassment of riches for the NYT)

PUZZLE #73: "I Love It When You..." (by Brooke Husic!)

PDF

PUZ
SOLUTION to the last puzzle

Guest puzzle guest puzzle! Happy to be presenting a puzzle by Brooke Husic, whose work you might've seen at the USA Today, the New York Times, and any number of indie outlets. She does great stuff regularly, so many thanks to her for gracing this site with some of that greatness!

Notes from Brooke:

Thrilled to be here again with a puzzle that Had To Be Made after I noticed the relevant pattern. Many thanks to Paolo for hosting me; he's the best. His recent guest midi on Amanda's site is amazing (I for one support more (i) anniversary content and (ii) nonstandard symmetry, and this midi has both)!!! Also, I had the immense honor/pleasure of test solving Paolo's Expansion Pack and *highly* recommend it if you haven't checked it out already!!!

If you're a citizen, register to vote!! Deadlines here!!! Registration/absentee rules here!!! Online registration available in these 40 states!!!!

Follow her on her Twitters if you're not on that already—hope you enjoy the puzzle!

PUZZLE #72: Numbers Game

PDF
PUZ
SOLUTION to the last puzzle

Hello! A few notes:

-I haven't officially announced this on my blog, but Expansion Pack is officially out! Check it out at the link above—pay what you want for the main set of puzzles, and $10 can get you all that plus a bonus 21x21 themeless!
-I also haven't linked these yet, but I've had a few guest spots out! Namely this puzzle on Et Tu Etui, and this less-dumb themeless collab with Ada Nicolle. And, more coming (hopefully) soon
-I just rejoined the NPL (nom: picasso), so if you're down to clown with that, feel free to say hi and/or tell me what an "enigma" is
-Please tell Sid you want to see this happen, because I want this to happen so hard

Small puzzle today—hope you enjoy!

-Paolo